


Shiver

by Hisa_Ai



Series: 31 Days of Christmas [5]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: 31 Days of fic, Christmas, Christmas prompts, Cold, Day 5, Fluff, Friendship, M/M, Prompt Fic, Shiver, Snow, Worry, Yule, knights of camelot, snowstorm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-05
Updated: 2013-12-05
Packaged: 2018-01-03 15:17:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1072001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hisa_Ai/pseuds/Hisa_Ai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Caught out in the forest with a snowstorm, Arthur is worried that Merlin isn't quite warm enough to last the night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shiver

* * *

 

It was rather unfortunate, but Uther had insisted that Arthur lead a patrol to investigate claims of Cenred and his men causing trouble in their land. With the threat of a winter storm looming, Arthur had tried to have the trip postponed by a day or two to decrease the chances of being caught in it, but his father would not hear of it; as long as they were back by nightfall, they could avoid the storm and all would be well, his father had told him before sending him off to prepare for the trip.

They had tried, had moved quickly and made quick work of Cenred's men, but on their way back to the castle, the storm had caught up with them, forcing them to stop and make camp for the night.

With the temperature dropping and the snow starting to pile up, whipping up in their faces every so often before calming down without warning or explanation, Arthur was glad, for him and his knights, that they had so many layers on and that their capes were warm and Merlin's dinner was warmer. They would make it back to Camelot all right, a little cold, a little wet, but they would all make it through the night, he was sure.

Until his eyes caught on Merlin, his jacket tugged tight around his body, hands held in front of the fire to capture whatever warmth he could.

_Now_  Arthur was worried.

Merlin was no knight, he had no cape, and his jacket was  _so_   _thin_ **,** as was the boy himself, that even if he slept closest to the fire—which Arthur would make sure he  _did_ —he would still be likely to freeze to death in the night if left as he was.

Not caring that his concern was showing, he looked around at his knights, Leon, Percival, Elyan, and Gwaine, all of whom were looking between him and Merlin with the same sort of worried expressions on their faces. They must have been thinking the same thing as he was, as he saw them fiddling with the clasps of their capes, a silent competition to see who might get theirs off first.

Quicker than the rest of them, Arthur stood up, whipped his cape off, and sat down next to Merlin, striding past his knights in triumph as he went over. Silently, he draped his cape around him, hiding his concern with a wry smile when Merlin looked at him in surprise, touching the edges of it gingerly as he shook his head.

"Arthur—"

"Last thing I need is to bring you back to Camelot frozen to death. Gaius would never forgive me," he said with little bite, his eyes soft with his true intentions. He couldn't leave Merlin cold, couldn't risk anything happening to him. He just… he couldn't bare it.

"But you—"

" _I_  am wearing chainmail and several other layers under it—you should know, you're the one who dressed me, after all—so I will be fine. But  _you_  will freeze otherwise, Merlin. And we can't have that." Arthur interrupted.

Merlin smiled, amused and grateful in a way neither of them were quite ready to convey with words. "No other decent servants around to take my place?" he asked.

Arthur smiled back, recognizing the truth mixed with his teasing.

"Not even  _half-way_  decent—which would be an improvement, by the way." He teased back, smiling to let him know he would never even consider anyone else for the job of his manservant. How could he when the one he already had had captured his heart so?

"Yeah, but how many of them would put up with you for more than a day?"

"You seem to have managed just fine."

"But I'm not even half-way decent, remember?"

"Hard not to sometimes." Arthur laughed and shook his head, smiling as he tugged his cape closer around Merlin and secured it in place, pretending not to notice in front of his knights how he was still cold to the touch and his jaw was shaking slightly with the chill he must have been feeling.

"We should all get some sleep now." Arthur declared then, standing up suddenly. He moved about camp as his knights did the same, gathering up their bedrolls and spreading them out much closer together than they usually would.

Arthur grabbed both his and Merlin's and put Merlin's as close to the fire as he could and his own not too far away. Within moments, they were all tucking in close around the fire and each other for warmth.

Still worried about Merlin's shivering form, the rest of the knights offered up their capes as well throughout the night as he was sleeping, leaving him nice and toasty come morning.

Arthur smiled as he finally allowed himself to drift off, satisfied now that Merlin would be all right, and glad that his knights continued to prove themselves as the best in all the kingdoms. Even though none of them would ever quite care about the manservant in the same way that  _he_  did, it was still nice to know that they  _did_  care, nonetheless.

 

* * *

 


End file.
